Nathalie Cochoy: In Netherland , a sense of loss and a reminiscence of the ethereal dreams at the origin of the country seem to coalesce. In this respect, Netherland seems to me to be a melancholic novel. As in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , a sense of mourning, of disappearance seems essential in the recreation of the beautiful ideals of the nation. However, in Netherland , the aesthetic reinvention of the wonderful dreams at the origin of the land is interwoven with some contemporary ethical issues. Indeed the story of Hans van den Broeck’s intimate suffering is delicately associated with the evocation of the disorientation of America after the events of 9/11. Memory then seems essential in the reconstruction of the self, or of the nation: Hans’s childhood memories are associated with references to the first settlers’ arrival on the continent.